In between the real world and the digital world is Catchoom. The 3-year-old Spanish company, born from the creative mind of Augmented Reality pioneer David Marimon, offers developers the tools to automatically link what users see to, among other things, products they can buy online. Using advanced Image recognition and Augmented Reality, it automatically answers the question:” what I am looking at? ” with virtual answers. Since Sandler Research recently forecasted the Global Mobile AR market to grow at a CAGR of 96.52 % over…

While Thinglink might not be a brand new company, it certainly behaves like one. Unable to leave well enough alone, it keeps on finding new ways and new places to allow the creation and posting of rich media interactive visuals. While in a challenging segment – most similar companies pivoted or shut down – it seems to be thriving on its own path and growth. We caught up with ceo and founder Ulla Engeström just as the company released a new Shopify extension. – In…

According to a study made in the UK, 40% of people under 35s said they have used their mobile device to take a picture of a specific item on the street to buy once they get home. By answering two questions – what is in the image and where can I buy it- Singapore-based ViSenze, a spin-off company of the National University of Singapore, wants to add value to the results. While not the only company trailblazing in that space, it is certainly one of the…

Photos are too short and videos are too long. Photos say too little and videos too much. In an age where we can link data so quickly and easily, it is amazing to see that photos are still just the online equivalent of their printed version : A flat 2D representation of the offline world with a little editorial text around it. It is an aberration that in 2015, photos still need text captions to explain their content. Photos should not only be able to carry…

We sat down with investor and creator of the LDV Vision Summit Evan Nisselson, so he could tell us more about the upcoming 2015 edition of the Summit, as well as his thoughts about the visual web. What worked well last year ? Last year, we organized the first LDV Vision Summit. It was the first time that an event combined all the important aspects of technology and business across the visual technology ecosystem. This visual ecosystem includes any individual or business that works with images…

One the strongest emerging trend we have all experienced in the last few years is a massive increase in usage of photography. Not just for the purpose of documenting and remembering events for nostalgia-filled family gatherings but rather to communicate in real-time. In fact, the core foundation of all social media is photography: There are no successful social media platforms without photo sharing at its core feature. This has impacted advertising and brand awareness strategies in a revolutionary way. In the age of physical film,…

With 2014 now behind us, it is time to look at the new year with innocent crisp new eyes, full of hope and wishful thinking. As tradition demands, let’s jump into the prediction bandwagon and look at what the Photo:Tech space will bring in 2015. 1) The majors will enter the image advertising space. Up to now, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft as well as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon have stayed on the sidelines of in-image advertising. Amazon did come out with a beta product that automatically…

Amazon is the latest internet giant to throw itself into the photo:tech space by offering its Prime members free unlimited photo storage. After Yahoo with Flickr ( not unlimited), Dropbox ( not free nor unlimited and not a giant yet), Google ( via Google +), Facebook ( not a direct service but apparently no limits to how many pictures you can upload), Microsoft with OneDrive ( not free) along with a plethora of smaller size businesses, photo storage has become a major battleground. The reasons…

While the industry raves about the possibilities of in-image buying, none of its major players seem to gain any traction. In fact, after Stipple last spring, it is UK -based Taggstar‘s turn to close its door on this model. In a very brief, cold email sent out today to its users, image tagging company Taggstar announces that it is permanently shutting down its service on November 14. No reasons given. In fact, the email finishes by saying : “We are not able to talk with…